Former Syracuse lacrosse defender Nick Mellen not selected in PLL Draft
By Neil Adler
Some analysts felt that former Syracuse lacrosse defender Nick Mellen would get chosen in the PLL Draft, but unfortunately that didn’t happen.
The Premier Lacrosse League (“PLL”) held its 2020 draft on Wednesday night, and no former Syracuse lacrosse players, including stellar defender Nick Mellen, heard their names called.
The two-round, 14-player draft included guys picked from elite lacrosse programs such as Virginia, Johns Hopkins, Cornell, Notre Dame, Penn State, Army and Yale – but no one from the Orange.
Paul Carcaterra, a well-known analyst and reporter for ESPN, had prior to the PLL Draft put on his Twitter page a listing of Carcaterra’s top-10 prospects for this draft. He slotted Mellen at No. 4. Given that ranking, it’s at least a little surprising that Mellen didn’t prove among the 14 players taken in the PLL Draft.
Not too long ago, the Boston Cannons picked SU team captain Mellen, one of the country’s top cover defenders during his ‘Cuse career, fourth overall in the 2020 Major League Lacrosse (“MLL”) Draft.
A two-time All-American from West Genesee High School in nearby Camillus, N.Y., the 5-foot-9 Mellen had previously announced that he would not return to the Hill for a sixth stanza of eligibility with Syracuse.
His selection in the MLL Draft brought the Orange’s record totals to 64 ‘Cuse guys drafted in that league, as well as 21 first-round choices. Mellen, who missed the last four games of the 2020 campaign after suffering an injury versus Colgate, finished his tremendous ‘Cuse tenure at No. 5 all-time in Central New York with 55 caused turnovers.
In the PLL Draft earlier this week, five defenders got taken, but not Mellen. That league’s 2020 term has gotten reshaped by the novel coronavirus pandemic, which the PLL says will entail a two-week quarantined and fan-less tournament that is slated to run from July 25 to Aug. 9.
Meanwhile, the MLL’s 2020 stanza, originally scheduled to begin at the end of this month, is delayed due to the pandemic, and league officials expect to provide an update in the near future.